The serious injury claims process – What you need to know

The claims process for severe and life-changing injuries may seem daunting and complicated but it doesn’t have to be.

If you are thinking about making a claim for such an injury caused by an accident which was not your fault, you may want to know the process before you begin. At Anthony Gold Solicitors we have legal experts who can explain this process to you, and how the serious injury claim would work for your case, step-by-step, so that you know exactly at what stage your claim is at, and when you should expect from it.

The Personal Injuries Claims Process

Once you have been in touch with our legal experts and we have agreed to take on your claim your solicitor will take you through some of these steps:-

1. Assessing your injuries
2. Working out who is responsible
3. Start the process of gathering evidence
4. Obtaining an interim payment from the other side
5. Arranging rehabilitation
6. Assessing the long-term recovery goals
7. Working out your compensation amount
8. Negotiating a settlement

The steps mentioned above involve detailed work at each stage, which your solicitor will carry out on your behalf to ensure that they are able to guide you through to a successful conclusion.

The below is therefore only an outline of what may be required.

1. Assessing Your Injuries

Whilst your key end goal is to achieve adequate compensation for your injuries, we will from the outset consider what your injuries are, so that we can ensure that we can also arrange the rehabilitation that you need to recover as soon as possible.

For this we will assess your injury (or illness), and the impact it has had on your life.

We will come and visit you at hospital if required, or at your home, or of course you could visit us at our offices.

We will discuss exactly what injuries you have sustained as a result of your accident, consider what medical assistance you may need going forward and advise you on what information you may need to keep hold of to ensure a successful case is brought (for example keeping a diary or photos of any injuries or scars).

We will of course discuss the need of obtaining your medical records including those from your GP practice and hospitals involved in your treatment.

2. Working Out Who Is Responsible

The initial stage of the personal injury claim is to establish who is responsible for your injuries. That is to establish who we will make the claim against, but this is not always clear cut, and that is why we are at hand to assist you.

Assessing who is responsible for your case will also depend on what type of accident you have had, for example whether you have been involved in an accident as:

• A driver, motorcyclist, cyclist, or a pedestrian involved in a road traffic collision;
• An employee involved in an accident at work;
• An accident as a result of a trip or fall in a public space

The claim will be undertaken against the insurers of person or organisation responsible for the accident.

3. Arranging Rehabilitation

At Anthony Gold Solicitors we pride ourselves in arranging rehabilitation as early as possible to ensure that your recovery is as quick and as full as possible.

For us to be able to do so we will organise any medical care or rehabilitation that may be required as soon as practical.

Whilst the NHS provides a wide range of rehabilitation services, it cannot cover everything, and as such we attempt to assist in providing you with access to private rehabilitation to ensure you get the best possible treatment when required. This will involve discussing your recovery goals and making sure a plan is set to achieve such goals.

We will also request for an interim payment to further assist you with any financial difficulties you may be experiencing.

4. Gathering Evidence

We gather the evidence concerning your accident. This will involve taking a statement from you and from any witnesses.

This will also include for example basic information as to when and where your accident happened, who else if anyone was present, what you were doing leading up to the accident, and how it happened. We will also consider for example obtaining any CCTV footage or a police report in a road traffic accident case.

5. Reviewing Recovery

In some cases, your recovery process may affect your claim before we are able to reach a settlement, and as such we will need to discuss what the long-term implications of this is may be for you.

This may for example involve assessing how far your recovery has progressed but also how much recovery remains outstanding in line with the medical expert’s opinion.

In cases of serious injuries, it can often take some time to fully understand the long-term view and as such it is important to ensure that everything has been taken into consideration before a final settlement is reached to ensure your case settles at the appropriate level.

6. Working Out Your Compensation

Once we have at hand all the evidence that we need to establish what compensation you may achieve, we will calculate a compensation package for you. This is a complex process that will take into account your pain and suffering, and also includes other losses that have arisen from your claim, such as your loss of earnings, and also includes a potential claim for your future losses.

7. Reaching A Settlement

Once we have established what your compensation package may entail, we will try to ensure that the best possible settlement is achieved during our negotiations with the other side on your behalf.

Before we take this step, we will always discuss with you what we consider would be a reasonable settlement, and we will proceed to bring matters to an end based on your instructions.

How We Can Help

The above is of course a general outline of what a personal injury claim involves, although each case differs on its facts and merits.

It is, therefore, important for you to ensure you obtain proper and professional advice from those who are experts in the field.

We at Anthony Gold Solicitors are experts in our field having successfully recovered millions in compensations for our clients.